Kokoda Trek Report - August 2017 - Tom Allwright

Eight close friends from Launceston, Tasmania threw on their hiking packs and trekked Kokoda. If only it was that easy..! With Adventure Abroad, they raised funds that go towards a project they’d implemented a few years ago in Africa, providing a water-well to children in the small village of Tarime, Tanzania.

It’s always great leading a group of mates. You’re never guessing of personality clashes and you can almost visibly see their bonds strengthen each day on the track. We were experiencing the driest track I’d had in all my crossings, with only a slight downpour heading down the infamous Kagi hills. As the trek leader, I was have spend more time on my bum slipping and sliding my way down the clay hill but the other boys had my back, it was just to keep good spirits up while it was raining they’d say.

As a group, we paid tribute to Terrence's mum, who tragically passed away in the days leading up to our trek. They were hosting her funeral as we trekked towards our campsite, a traditional experience. It’s always great getting to Kagi, with pizza on the menu, great NRE huts and the vibrancy of life surrounding you, it’s almost as though a new lease of life comes to fruition and realising we’re almost halfway through the trek.

A moving tribute to our diggers on Brigade Hill saw tears as we understood what it meant to be a trekker. Poems and reflections were explained and silence surrounded as our local team sang in harmony.

The morning of our final day we were greeted with a dawn service. I always ask my trekkers what they’d say to a digger if they had their chance? What stories could the rocks and trees tell you if they could?

We’ve only been back for a few months now and already stories are exchanged over dinner parties, some fabricated, some exaggerated and some true. However, it’d be suffice to say that without this experience the stories would never be the same.